PMG is the only solution that combines BPM, e-commerce, Enterprise Content Management, and Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) in a single suite

PMG is the only independent enterprise service catalogue that integrates with virtually every common enterprise application out of the box…not tied to a specific ITSM tool (or to IT for that matter)

PMG provides hundreds of out of box features to support near-zero coding and simple configuration for dramatic ease of use and deployment

Additional Feature

PMG has >50 OOB integration connectors to virtually all well known ITSM, ERP, CRM, HRMS, Cloud, and RBA tools

Independent Review

It is easy to see how PMG would be the enterprise Service Catalogue of choice where the more “traditional” enterprise ITSM suites have shortcomings in that area.

The range of integration connectors and ability to raise tickets in and out of most ITSM suites is an impressive feature, and not one you would even to expect to find in the more integrated suites.

Having personally battled with early iterations of Service Catalogues in the larger, sometimes monolithic suites, I can see why some large customers retain their original investment and connect PMG to the back.

Their ability to link directly to a range of LDAPs provides a unique degree of role based access, without the need to have that information duplicated in their tool.

Request Models

PMG provide a large number of out-of-the-box workflows and templates, also including a vast library of clip art to help customers set up their e-commerce content rapidly.

All of the UI and workflow is configured with selections and drag and drop, and no requirements for coding.

Bundling workflows (for example bringing together a number of components for New Hires) is easy to configure.

Administrators are offered a number of options of training days, and can be up to advanced level in a matter of weeks.

Menu Selection

PMG offer extensive content management, allowing for rich text form and presentation, allowing documentation, and links to be added to screens presented to users.

Their philosophy is to provide a comprehensive set of templates to facilitate a customer’s setup.

This makes sense when you look at their model, and the kinds of customers and environments they deploy in.

If a customer has invested in an enterprise ITSM suite, and need to replace the Request Fulfilment component, they can well do without having to pay again for detailed consultancy.

The self-service element can be configured to suit customers.

Request Fulfilment Lifecycle

The delivery engine behind PMG takes the drag and drop approach to a different level.

As well as linking to a viewable status for the end user, the status of actions also changes within the workflow as a request progresses through its lifecycle, with workflow elements turning green, once completed.

Everything is configurable through selection.

PMG do also support additional coding but with their approach of provided a vast number of templates and workflow out of the box, they believe it is not needed for the large majority of deployments.

Actions on other groups can be done either through their interaction with the PMG system, or by embedding instructions within standard emails (for example Accept, Reject buttons).

Conclusion

It is easy to understand why PMG have succeeded in being deployments that complement existing enterprise ITSM solutions.

They have evolved as a strong integration Service Catalogue suite, capitalising where the more traditionally monolithic suites had laboured in terms of Service Catalogue flexibility.

Even though they do provide a very basic ITSM ticketing function, they do not pretend to be what they are not.

PMG clearly pitch themselves in a niche, which is a refreshing approach, and I like the inclusion of a vast number of templates to Quick-start a deployment.

For example – it is a neat thing to see the status of actions change as the workflow progresses, but that is something that just appeals to me as a techie.

But just because other vendors have incorporated graphical workflow in a slightly a more simplistic way, does not mean they are not able to provide the same outcome (eventually).

And for me, the key is achieving the outcome without overdoing the complexity.

This is something that can be easily achieved in PMG, and perhaps sometimes demonstrating less is more is just as powerful as showing the full depth of configuration.

Ros Satar is a Blogger and Analyst for The ITSM Review. Her journey in ITIL/ITSM began in 2005 when she jumped into the deep end of Configuration Management. When not knee deep in paper and having a love/hate relationship with her many gadgets, she can be found putting in time at various sporting publications.